This invention relates to sprinklers, especially to sprinklers for supplying water to lawns and other vegetation. A particular feature of the invention is a novel water distributor head.
For many years a great deal of effort has been devoted to developing sprinklers for lawn, crops, etc. These devices have varied widely in complexity, ranging all the way from simple spray nozzles to complex assemblies having water-driven gears and a large number of moving parts. For greatest efficiency, a sprinkler should have a minimal number of moving parts, be designed so that the supply stream of water is not subjected to excessive friction, deliver water in a manner that minimizes loss by evaporation, and be capable of covering a large area. While many prior art sprinklers have possessed some of these characteristics, it is believed that none has possessed all of them.
Illustrative of the prior art devices is that shown in Swan U.S. Pat. No. 2,761,738, where a stream of water impinges on a vaned perforate rotor to distribute droplets instead of a fine spray. Jones U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,124 likewise employs a rotating unit to distribute water over the area to be sprinkled. Rider U.S. Pat. No. 1,893,210 describes a sprinkler having an internally grooved nozzle that is said to deliver water in "gobs or slugs." Hait U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,009,647 and 3,009,648 describe rubber whip type sprinkler heads. Hruby U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,081,036, 3,175,767, 3,347,464, and 3,357,643 all describe sprinklers in which a tubular water distributing stem gyrates around in a tubular body.
Clearman U.S. Pat. No. 2,848,276 discloses a sprinkler utilizing a novel distributor head in which an upwardly directed jet of water strikes the lower surface of an externally grooved inverted conical diverter, which "wobbles", or precesses, to distribute coarse drops of water throughout a circular area. This device is extremely simple and efficient, but the area watered is not so large as is frequently desired.